Thursday, October 17, 2013

The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

The Dream Thieves is the second book in the Raven Cycle series. The series is about a few boys from Aglionby Academy, a private boarding school, who are looking for Glendower, an ancient Welsh king, who they believe is buried somewhere near their school in the town of Henrietta. Gansey has spent the better part of his seventeen years researching and traveling the world in pursuit of Glendower. He came to Aglionby Academy solely because of its location on the ley line, an electrically charged current, which is where Glendower is believed to be buried.

As I noted in my review of The Raven Boys, I felt the first two thirds of that book were very slow. The ending, however, was action packed and left me anxiously anticipating the release of this book. While The Dream Thieves did not take off with the same energy level, I did not find this book to be slow in the least.

The focus of this book was more on Gansey's roommate Ronan and his family. We discover why he has a long history of insomnia and why his father felt it was important to teach his boys how to fight. We also discover why his father left a large share of his estate to his sons, but forbid them from ever returning to their family home.

There is a new character who is referred to as The Gray Man. He was hired by someone several years ago to find the Greywaren. He has no idea what the Graywaren is, but he believes it is in Henrietta because of the same electrical charge The Raven Boys are tracking.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. Since the very beginning of this series, I have been on Team Gansey. I love his character and hope the psychic's predictions are 100% incorrect. There needs to be a loop hole for him as well as Blue.

The ending was very mysterious. Once again, Maggie did not leave many clues as to what direction the story will take next. I think the Raven Boys quest may expand to include one additional element, but this is purely speculation on my part. I will definitely read the next book in the series as soon as it is released. I desperately want to know what happens next for Gansey, Blue, and the rest of the Raven Boys.